Archive for March, 2012

TechZwn has just posted a great article on Mech Warfare. The article includes an interview with Andrew Alter and explores the history of this awesome competition. It also explores how Mech Warfare works, its appeal and the need for a new arena.

4 years ago our own Andrew Alter founded the Mech Warfare Competition. Since then, the event has grown massively with more and more competitors from around the globe. As the competitor pool and the event itself grow, so must the arena in which these robots battle. The PVC pipe and canvas tent just isn’t cutting it anymore. This year the Mech Warfare organizers want to build a lexan & aluminum armored arena to house the robot competitors.

That’s where you come in. $6000 is needed to make this new arena a reality and the organizers of Mech Warfare have set up a Kickstarter Project to fund it. The project is on its way, but it still has a ways to go. Your donation will help build an arena that will house Mech Warfare competitions for years to come, inspiring competitors and spectators alike.

Now we know that just the knowledge that you’re promoting the robotics cause is enough to get you to donate, but there are also some great thank you gifts for backers. These gifts include listing on the sponsors page, Mech Warfare and MORAV posters, and even having your name/company/website integrated into the arena itself. Just imagine your face looking down from a billboard onto the Mech Warfare Arena!

So checkout the Kickstarter Page and sign up to donate. Every little bit helps towards getting an awesome new arena for these awesome robots.

With just a little over a month to go, the Mech Warfare scene is heating up! Back in December, Yoshihiro Shibata issued a challenge our good friend Che Edoga. Well Che certainly couldn’t take that sitting down : here’s his response.

It’s just another day at the office here at Trossen Robotics. You know, the usual paperwork, service calls, order packing, and Awesome Quadcopter Demonstrations.

Don and Jason of Mad Lab Industries came by to show off their amazing Quadcopter. They gave us a great demo, and shared some of their stories about the ups and downs of working with aerial vehicles. One small glitch, and suddenly your vehcicle can drop out of the air, or fly head first into the nearest building, the duo told us.

Their Hoverfly based monster of a Quadcopter is a amazing piece of machinery. This beast can quickly zip to an fro or it can hover in a stationary spot, compensating and resisting for wind. In addition, this machine also has a servo positioned/controlled camera. Here’s a shot of our team marvelling in awe at the Quadcopter.

Flying robots might not actually be a part of daily life here (though someday, they will be) so it’s great to see what people like Jason and Don have built. We love to see these kinds of projects, so if you’ve got a great project, show off in the Project Showcase in the forums!